I’ve been trying to get all my servers snmp settings fixed and it’s been kind of a pain. Powershell doesn’t have any good cmdlets, but I’ve found a couple examples. This is very nice script, but doesn’t work on remote machines unless you do PS Remoting. (I need to bone up on my PS remoting now.)

I ended up using the following for the base of a script. I need only a very simple script so this looks for a specific registry key which will be the name of the CommunityString. Since mine is ‘Public’, I’m just looking for that.

While rebuilding WSUS (once again) I discovered another snag. When first configuring WSUS I put in “D:” for the drive to store the updates because the wizard didn’t like “D:\”. Unfortunately, both are wrong. From what I read in various posts, the wizard used to default to the largest drive with free space and append \WSUS for a directory. If you just specify “D:”, the updates try to download to D:WsusContent and not D:\WsusContent. (The eventlog shows this.)

I had a screwy server that wouldn’t replicate a folder in DFSR because it had past the 60 day limit. I’m not sure why this server was out of date for so long.

EventID: 4012

The DFS Replication service stopped replication on the folder with the following local path: <folder>. This server has been disconnected from other partners for 152 days, which is longer than the time allowed by the MaxOfflineTimeInDays parameter (60). DFS Replication considers the data in this folder to be stale, and this server will not replicate the folder until this error is corrected.

To resume replication of this folder, use the DFS Management snap-in to remove this server from the replication group, and then add it back to the group. This causes the server to perform an initial synchronization task, which replaces the stale data with fresh data from other members of the replication group.

Following the suggestion in the EventID, I removed the folder completely from DFS Replication and Namespace and let everything sync back up. The event log even said that the Replication member was dropped. However, when I re-added the folder I received the same error message again.

So I changed the MaxOfflineTimeInDays option to 155 days with this command and restarted the DFSR service:

Features

The media keys work! No need for remapping. That was a not-so-minor annoyance with using the Apple Keyboard on Windows: several missing keys, no media keys, and the need to remap something if you really wanted it. It wasn’t a deal breaker for me because I like the feel of the keyboard and it’s very easy to type on, but it’s nice to have media keys back.

The only issue with having media keys is now I have to toggle for Function keys. I do use F2 (rename) and F5 (refresh). But there is a toggle switch so you can choose which keys will be the default.

Bluetooth is built in so there is no dongle. The keyboard runs off of two AAA batteries. Pairing it up with Windows 10 was a breeze.

The ergonomic keyboard has a bit more heft to it than the regular keyboard. It’s a good weight. I prefer keyboards have a bit of mass to them. I don’t want it moving around on my desk.

Aesthetics

The keyboard looks great. It’s all various shades of grey. The palm rest for the ergonomic keyboard has a nice feel to it. MS says it’s easy to clean but I’m just leery about a cloth palm rest. It’s some fancy Italian fabric. Soft, and padded a bit. The cloth palm rest is the only thing I’m leery about with this keyboard.

Nitpicks

The lights to indicate the capslock, num lock, etc. are a little dim or small.

The shift key next to the Z is a bit small too. Altho’ it could be that I’ve not used an ergonomic keyboard in a long time.

A bit spendy at $130, but if it holds up as well as a mechanical keyboard then it’s worth it.

None of these are deal breakers.

Conclusion

I’m still testing out the ergonomic version. I’m tempted to go back and get the regular version, since I use a regular mechanical keyboard at work.

I heartily recommend this keyboard. What little time I’ve spent with it I can say it’s a great keyboard. It’s a little spendy, but if you like the Apple keyboard style with perfect Windows (Win8, 8.1, 10. No Win7) integration, this keyboard is great.

For the longest time, my favorite keyboard was the Apple keyboard. I loved the chiclet keys, the low profile, the Apple aesthetics. However, I was always missing the 100% Windows integration. I became used to using the Option key for the Windows key, the missing print screen, and a few others caveats; eventually, I worked around them. But I always maintained that if someone could make and Apple keyboard with Windows keys, it’d be the best Windows keyboard ever.

I had to migrate dhcp servers and the export/restore wasn’t working for me. I read that the export/restore method only works on the same server. I’m migrating from 2008 to 2012R2. However, there is a command-line method to add DHCP reservations in Windows and there is an easy way to get a list of existing reservations:

netsh dhcp server dump > output.txt

I could only get this command to run on the local server. Running it remotely didn’t seem to get all the output, but at least it gave me the reservations and I didn’t have to retype them. (Run these commands from an elevated command prompt.)